"Bring on the Hillbillies," stated a sign in the south end zone after Florida had just destroyed South Western Central Louisiana Middlebury Monroe - ok, you get the picture - it was Florida’s last preseason game (note that UF has scheduled Miami in that slot next year). At 2-0, the Gators seemed ripe to give Phil Fulmer another notch in his loss column that seems reserved only by the University of Florida. With what happened that following Tuesday followed by the classless reluctance of Mr. BCS himself (SEC Commish, Roy Kramer) not to play, the game of the week has evolved months later into a national semifinal. If only Roy had a magic 8 ball then he could have envisioned the excitement...and it is everywhere!
This campus is especially abuzz with excitement. People seem only to talk about this weekend, incidentally, a nice departure from how most of us wanted to forget about that last one since some of us may have wanted to purge ourselves (literally). Speaking of purge - or is that splurge: tickets are selling on average for $130 for nosebleed and end zone seats to $175 for midfield - not bad for cash poor students. ESPN will drape their cables on the north lawn of Benny Hill Griffith Stadium at possibly soon to be Gatorade Florida Field here for their nationally tied leading 6th College Game Day (to the jealous out there who know I work for Fox/Sunshine Network, here is a little more to whine about: I get to meet Lee Corso on Friday; for those of you who don’t care, you probably have looked at my cellar dweller SJS record) and nationally tied leading 16th appearance on College Game Day. And finally, three different networks will cover the game; did you know that Florida trails only Notre Dame in national telecasts since 1990? I can only imagine that press credential issuances and number of tickets sold will set a record (only to fall for the Miami game next September when most of the new press box and boxes will be complete).
With all of that blah blah out of the way, now the fun part begins: who wins the SEC, er, SEC East title. The Gators on paper appear to have a superior team compared with the Volunteers. At almost every position the Gators are the better team. Does this mean they will win: no, just look at any sports page from Sunday to verify that negative. The one position that I give the nod to those backward ass country F***s is at running back, that is, if Stephens hadn’t been so used up earlier in the season. Florida, however, does not have Earnest Graham, as we know from the relentless emails that get zapped to me from that tropicana list serve. When Florida doesn’t run, they don’t win; in 24 of the 26 games that Florida has lost since 1990, they have been out-rushed (one of those times came at the hands of Tennessee). Oklahoma lost to Oklahoma State because they mustered a grand total of zero yards rushing. Championship teams do not do that. Florida did, though. Their run total against Auburn contributed to their demise in that game. It will be different this time around, however.
Robert Gillespie is healthy and will run well, both unlike when Florida last lost. Also, Spurrier is aware of Carthon, and hopes that he can add "well" to his first name; I would be very surprised if Green does something unexpected on the ground (could be different than in the air). Hopefully, Spurrier will utilize a play he admittedly does not prefer: the screen. That tool could be an effective antidote to the expected pass-heavy defenses that UF will most likely see. That fact notwithstanding, UF will win this game bcbecause the UT secondary is pathetic, they are playing in the Swamp in December, and Fulmer is a fat idiot. As far as the final score it becomes a question of which running team shows up: if the Gators can run, the Gators win big, but since they were already 10th in the SEC prior to Graham going out, it will be closer. The Vols haven’t won in Gainesville since I was born 30 years ago (when Fulmer was a senior at UT) and they won’t do it now. And since my prediction for Spurrier to be coaching in Jax would be in doubt if he didn’t win a title, that means he must win this game. I would pick a great differential if it weren’t for the pressure that happened to show up two weeks ago versus FSU: UF 38 UT 23.
